Ink-well.



J. v. WASHBURNE.

INK WELL.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 6. 1911. RENEWED SEPT. 4. 19m.

Patented Apr. 6, 1915.

Ziifnesses:

AZZO rne y.

JAMES V. WASHBURNE, OF SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.

INK-WELL.

Application filed February To (ZZZ whom it may concern Be it known that 1, JAMES V. WASHBURNE, of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Inkells, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to certain improvements in ink wells involving the use of a cup-shape base section and an inverted reservoir or bottle section containing a reserve quantity of ink adapted to automatically feed into the base section as the supply in the latter recedes below a predetermined level normally sealing the opening in the bottom of the reservoir to prevent the entrance of air thereto both of said sections being provided with recesses in one side adapted to be brought into registration with each other by the relative rotation of one of the sections upon the other for the entrance of a pen or such recesses may be moved out of registration with each other by such relative rotation to effectively close the recess in the base and thereby prevent excessive evaporation of ink. In this par ticular form of ink well, the central portion of the ink reservoir in the base section is preferably elevated to form a pocket or pockets registering with the recess or recesses therein and at the same time forming abutments at the inner sides of the pocket limiting the entrance of pens into the reservoir, the pockets serving to retain at all times a sufficient depth of ink for ready use, while the remaining portions of the upper portion of the base form bearings for receiving and supporting the superposed bottle or main reservoir.

So far as I am aware the bearing surfaces between the bottle and base sections in devices of this character heretofore devised have always been substantially flat or of suf ficient contact area to cause capillary attraction and consequent drying of the ink at this joint, thereby causing the sections to stick or adhere one to the other with suflicient resistance to prevent relative turn: ing of said sections or removal of one from the other without liability of breakage. Furthermore the upper face of the raised center of the base section in devices of this character now in use is, so far as I know, substantially flat or concave which allows the ink to collect and dry thereon, especially Specification of Letters Patent.

6, 1911, Serial No. 606,840. Renewed September 4, 1914. Serial No. 860,302.

when the ink is exhausted from both sections.

My main object, therefore, is to avoid these objectionable conditions and to thereby keep both sections freer from accumulations of dried ink and at the same time permitting said sections to be rotated relatively to each other with the utmost freedom.

I am aware that it is common to employ spring tensioned arms or straps for detachably locking the sections of the ink well together but in all of the devices with which I am familiar, the bearing portions of the spring arm or straps upon the inverted bottle is comparatively narrow and contacts with the upper surface of the bottle throughout practically its entire diameter, thus producing excessive friction against rotation and allowing the bottle to be tilted transversely of the line of extension of the strap when the inner wall is lifted or moved up by means of the top section or bottle.

Another object, therefore, of my present invention is to provide the bottle retaining spring with a central circular bearing of comparatively broad area engaging in a circular recess in the top of the bottle coaxial with its axis of rotation, leaving the re maining portions of the spring free from engagement with said bottle and thereby permitting the latter to be rotated more freely relatively to the base section.

A further object is to provide the base of the well with one or more rotarily adjustable pen racks and to construct such base in such manner that these racks may be frictionally held in their adjusted positions.

Other objects and uses will be brought out in the following description:

In the drawings: Figures 1 and 2 are respectively a top plan and a side elevation of an ink well embodying the various features of my invention, portions of opposite sides of the well being shown in section in Fig. 2. Figs. 3 and a are respectively a transverse vertical sectional view of the well taken on line 3-3, Fig. 1 and a horizontal sectional view through the base taken on line 4-4 Fig. 2, Fig. 4 showing particularly the manner of frictionally holding the pen racks in their adjusted'positions. Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical sectional view of the base taken at right angles to that shown in Fig. 3.

This ink well comprises a base section l and a superposed bottle section or reservoir 2 rotatably'mounted in an inverted position in the top of the base section l and held in operative position against accidental displacement by a spring clamp 3, the base section being preferably polygonous in top plan and having the central portion of its periphery between the top and bottom reduced in diameter at 4.- for the reception and retention of a plurality of, in this instance two split-ring pen racks 5 which are preferably made of spring wire and tensioned so as to frictionally grip the periphery of the reduced portion of the base as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and l. I

. The base section .1 and bottle section 2 are preferably made of glass although they, may be made of any other non-corrodible or acid resistingmaterial.

The outer surface or perimeter of the base is shown as, octagonal with its lower and upper ends flaring downwardly and up-.

wardly respectively from the reduced portion 1 so as to retain the peniracks 5 in close juxtaposition against accidental upward or downward displacement, each pen rackpreferably consisting of a split-ring of spring wire adapted to be sprung over and upon the perimeter of the base and tensioned to frictionally grip such perimeter and at the same time to permit it to beadjusted rotarily by hand to bring itspen supporting ends to any convenient position, said ends being preferably offset laterally in parallel lines some distance apart equal to or slightly greater than the length of one 7 side of the base and are curved downwardly and upwardly to'form suitable seats for receiving and supporting pens, pencils and similar articles.

The intermediate portion 6 of each pen rack diametrically opposite to the pen supporting arms is substantially straight a distance corresponding to the length of one of the sides of the base so as to fit closely against such side thereby additionally holding the pen rack against accidental rotary displacement and at the same time permitting the entire pen rack to be adjusted ro-' tarily by hand when necessary to bring the pensupporting arms to the desired position with thestraight portion 6 in contact with one of the sides of the base.

The interior of the baseis divided horizontally between'its lower and upper sides by a partition or bottom wall 7 forming lower and upper chambers -8+ and ''9, the lower chamber being simply for the purpose of reducing the weight of the base and its outer. walls follow the general contour of the outer perimeterv forming an octagonal supporting flange 10 having thus preventing in a measure adhesion o the base .to its support.

,The'upper chamber is preferably* circular and of slightly greater diameter than'the base "of the inverted bottle 2 which itis adapted to receive, thus forming a marginal flange 12 for retaining.

the bottle against'radial displacement when mounted upon the base. i The partition orbottom wall 7 1s preferably formedintegral with the sides of the base -1 and consists of opposite nearly semi-circular inwardly projecting ledges 13 and a depressed diametrically extending portion -l4-'connected to the inner ing walls 15 forming awell 16-. The

opposite ends of the depressed portion 14 .80 edges of theledges -13 by upwardly flar- V are deflected downwardly and then up- 7 wardly and integrally united to the sides of the base -1, thereby forming opposite ink pockets 17 for the reception of a pen, the

inner sides of each forming abutments 18- to limit the inward movement of the pen i into the 'well,it being understeodthat the well 16 and pockets 17 are'open at the top for communication with the upper chamber 9. The upper surface of the central portion of the depression 1$ is therefore raised above the bottom of the pockets -17 and is rounded or convexed V longitudinally to cause any accumulations of ink thereon to readily flow laterally into the pockets, thereby preventing any excessive quantity of ink from drying upon such surface in. case its level shouldfall below this surface. The upper surfaces of the ledges 13 also incline downwardly and integral lmobs or ribs 19 spaced apart at suitable intervals and upon which the undersideof the bottle.2fi rests when in operative position thereby leaving the intervening space between the ledges 13- and underside of the bottle sufiicient to prevent such bottle from adhering to the ledges. This bottle'is provided in its lower side with a central neck 21 and opening .22 dip ping into the well 16' directly over the central portion of the partition '1&, the distance between the horizontal plane of the portion of the bottle resting on the projections -1'9 and that-of the lower end of the neck being slightly less than the correspondingdistance to the top of the central portioniof the partition l4 so as to leave an intervening clearance between said partition and lower end of the neck of the bottle sufficient to permit the outflow of the ink from said bottle into the pocket 17 when adjusted for use.

One side of the bottle is depressed inwardly at 23 extending inwardly from the periphery and adapted to be moved into and out of registration with either one of the pockets -17 as the bottle is rotated so as to form a continuation of the pocket for the reception of a pen in dipping it into the well or when moved out of registration with the pockets overlies the ledges 13- while the bottom of the bottle effectively covers the upper open sides of the pockets 17- to exclude dust and prevent excessive evaporation of the ink.

The upper side of the bottle is provided with a central circular depression 24:- in which is fitted a circular disk 25- having oppositely projecting spring arms -26 rising therefrom in abrupt turns clear from the bottle and extending downwardly along the sides thereof and having their lower ends terminating in inwardly projecting shoulders 27- for entrance into suitable recesses 28- in the adjacent sides of the base and against superposed shoulders 29- which effectively hold the bottle against accidental upward displacement from the base.

The spring arms 26 are preferably formed integral with the central disk 25 which is of considerably larger diameter than the width of the arms thereby affording a broad bearing which is held to the seat 2%- under the spring tension of the arms 26 and serves to hold the bottle with greater firmness in operative position against lateral tilting movement and at the same time permitting said bottle to be rotated more freely on the base than would be possi ble if the arms 3- were in contact with the sides of the bottle. The object therefore in deflecting the arms forwardly in sharp bends from diametrically opposite sides of the disk is to free said arms from engagement with the bottle so that the main element operating to hold the bottle in operative position is the circular disk 24 which by reason of its being seated in a circular depression in the top of the bottle yieldingly but firmly holds the latter against lateral movement and also against tilting.

It will be observed upon reference to Fig. 5 that the opposite sides of the base -1. with which the adjacent ends of the spring arms 26 are engaged are recessed at 30 a sufiicient depth to enable said arms to spring inwardly into said recesses and within the perimeter of the corresponding portion of the base when interlocked with the shoulders 29 thereby protecting these ends of the springs as far as possible against accidental displacement from said shoulders.

What I claim is:

1. An ink well comprising a hollow base, a diametrically extending portion of the bottom wall thereof depressed and the ends of the depressed portion still further depressed below its intermediate portion to form diametrically opposite ink pockets, an inverted bottle resting on the base and having an outlet directly over said intermediate portion and a portion of the side wall of said bottle depressed to form a channel adapted to be brought into registration with either of said pockets.

2. An ink well comprising a hollow base having ink pockets in its bottom at opposite sides of its center and the upper face of its central portion convex so as to incline from the center toward the pockets, and an inverted ink bottle resting on the top of the base and having an outlet directly over the center of the bottom of said base.

3. An ink well comprising a base having a diametrically extending channel in its bottom, the ends of said channel being depressed below the center to form diametrically opposite ink pockets, the portions of the base at opposite sides of the channel being inclined toward the channel, an edge flange extending upwardly from said base, and an inverted bottle resting upon the top of the base and within said edge fiange and rotatable with respect to said base and having its outlet registering with the intermediate portion of the channel between the pockets.

1. An ink well comprising a hollow base having its bottom provided with a diametrically extending channel, the ends of which are depressed below the central portion to form diametrically opposite ink pockets, the portions of the bottom of the base at opposite sides of the channel being inclined toward said channel and having raised portions, and an inverted ink bottle resting on said raised portions and having an outlet registering with the intermediate portion of the channel between said pockets.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand on this 3rd day of February 1911.

JAS. V. W'ASHBURNE.

\Vitnesses:

E. F. SPEAKING, H. P. DENISON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

